Chapter 42 - No Vacancy
Fairy Tail: Paths of the Soul The police kept the group for about another hour, and it was already dusk by the time they made it back to Creghurst town. They where on the last carriage out, after all the passengers and bandits where whisked away. They had also unfortunately received confirmation that the trains wouldn't be running again until some time tomorrow, so they all made their way back to the hotel. This however, is where they met yet another roadblock on their trip. "What do you mean you don't have our rooms anymore?" Shelly cried at the desk manager. "Well, like I said..." He began, seemingly becoming annoyed that he had to explain it again. "You paid for one night, and you stayed one night. Someone else wanted the room for tonight, so I gave it to them. There was an influx of people about an hour ago, So I'm completely booked for the night." "But all of our stuff is still here." Shelly argued. It was quite apparent however, that she was the only one who thought arguing would make a difference. Rift patted her on the shoulder and began leading her to the door before the manager could make a counter argument. "Forget it, we'll find somewhere else." He led the others out, almost having to pull Shelly away. Amber, Axel, and Zeke, brought out the bags, none of them looking that disappointed about missing another night in their shoddy rooms. Geno brought up the rear, and once outside he asked. "So what're the odds he actually had a bunch of new customers?" "Pretty damn good I'd say. They're probably the one's we just rescued." Rift said with a chuckle. "What?" Echoed from pretty much the whole group. "The mine workers." Rift pointed in the direction of the train station. "Probably a hundred people all on their way home; now they're stuck here just like we are. But luckily for them, they didn't have to wait around for five hours waiting for the investigation to close up." Despite the situation, Shelly seemed to be trying to keep an upbeat attitude. "W-well... That's ok, we can just find another place to stay, right?" Rift grinned at her sentiment, but shook his head. "This isn't a tourist town, kid. That last place looked like it had... I don't know, maybe a dozen rooms?" Shelly slumped her shoulders, it just didn't seem like she'd be able to catch a break. "Sorry to say it, but we're screwed." They all groaned in disappointment, Amber especially. She just wanted to take it easy for a while, why did that seem so unattainable as of late? "So, what do we do?" Thinking for a moment, Rift was about to say something before Zeke leapt up with an idea. "We could camp out for the night!" He yelled with a childish excitement. There was silence at first then Rift began to chuckle. "That's... One option, I guess." "No way!" Shelly cried, clutching at the shoulder strap of her bag. "It'll be dark out." "It actually shouldn't be too bad." Geno glanced up at the sky and, despite it still being day time, followed up his point by saying. "It's a full moon tonight." Shelly huffed in annoyance and glanced away from the group. "Of course you'd know that." ---- Despite her continued protests, Shelly was outvoted four to one. Amber figured it was more because they had no other alternatives, not that Shelly saw it that way. The group eventually found their camping place too, an overgrown forest sitting on a cliff just outside of town. They could see a mountain range in the distance, at least for as long as the sun stayed up, but the view seemed to quell Shelly's complaining for the moment. "Pict Magic: Home!" Shelly turned out her sketchbook, and a small cottage jumped off the pages. It was only big enough to maybe just fit two people laying down, and at around at four feet tall, Amber guessed there wouldn't be any standing up inside either. None the less, Shelly seemed content. "Ok... This is the girls room." She stated adamantly. "That thing going to be OK overnight?" Rift asked with a chuckle, in the middle of helping Axel pitch a tent with an old tarp they'd salvaged from town. Looking her conjured cottage over for flaws, Shelly nodded. "Yeah. As long as it doesn't rain, it'll last as long as I need it too." In the middle of building a campfire, Amber had to ask. "What'll happen if it rains?" "Well, it's technically made of paper..." Shelly began, looking up at the sky one last time. There wasn't a cloud in sight, but even still, the thought of being stuck out in the opened in the middle of the night must have made her nervous. "It'll melt if it get's wet. Any Pict magic spell would." "Didn't you make a boat with it back on Amber's first job?" Axel asked quizzically. Shelly shook her head. "Miki gave me some special paper to use in the swamp just before we left. She said it was waterproof." "Oh..." Amber mumbled. Given their situation she thought it best to just keep any complaints to herself. She tossed the last of the branches she'd gathered onto the fire, then pushed off her knees to her feet. "So, what do we do now?" "Well..." Rift got up as well, just finishing his makeshift tent. "You guys are waiting for Geno and Zeke to get back with food. I, meanwhile, got to go back into town for a bit." Shelly abruptly spun in his direction. "You're leaving?!" "Yeah..." He seemed amused at Shelly's reaction, but saw fit to explain himself pretty quick. "It's a dumb policy, but for us to get paid for council work, one of us needs to be there when the cops hand the bad guys over. And seeing as how it was technically my job, I'm the one who's got to do it." Neither of the girls, nor Axel looked convinced, which Rift seemed to anticipate as he flashed them another of his toothy grins. "C'mon, you wouldn't want to do all this and not get paid, would ya?" They all exchanged a glance, and Shelly shook her head. "No..." "Don't worry about it." Rift tried to sound assuring, though he probably had no idea how unsuccessful he was. "I'll be gone for like... An hour. Two, tops. Then we're out of this rundown town first thing in the morning." Shelly sighed again, but figuring it was the best response he was going to get, Rift headed off anyways. He gave a quick nod to Amber, then headed off through the trees. Amber returned to her campfire after a moment, trying to keep herself busy. She'd found a large, shredded piece of bark to use as a flint, and soon the small clearing was illuminated by firelight. "Oh, sweet." The girls turned to see Zeke had returned with a bag full of plants that he had gathered. "Hey Geno, they got a fire going." "Great." Geno appeared next, carrying what looked like a large raccoon over his shoulder. He dropped it in the dirt and began rolling his shoulder. "I still don't get why you didn't come too." He said to Axel, as he dragged the animal away to cook. "That sniffer of yours would've come in real handy." He popped a bloody, balled up tissue out of one of his nostrils, looking annoyed. "Because that jackass bandit broke my nose... All I can smell is blood right now." "Oh yeah..." Geno began to chuckle, grabbing something out of Zeke's bag of plants and taking a big chomp out of it. He took another look around, then asked. "Where's Rift?" "He said he had to go back and wait for the council to show up." Shelly explained, kneeling down next to the fire. "Sucks to be him." Zeke began to snicker. Amber meanwhile, was less sympathetic. The way he acted was beginning to annoy her. Considering he'd done next to nothing on their last two jobs, not to mention how the fight with Zumma had gone, she was really questioning why they all followed after him. "Hey... Is that Rift guy really the leader?" Everyone, even Shelly seemed suppressed. "You mean of the team?" Axel asked. "Yeah..." She nodded. Their reaction took her aback, but there was no way they hadn't noticed it too. "He doesn't seem like it." "Well..." Shelly spoke first, but apparently didn't have the words. She glanced at both Axel and Geno, still munching away on whatever he'd grabbed from Zeke's gatherings, but neither of them had much to add. "It's not that he's the leader... He's the most powerful of any of us, and more experienced." "Yeah!" Zeke nodded in agreement. "If he where there when we fought that thief guy in the capital, the fight would've been over in less than a minute." Amber didn't really believe that either. "If you say so." Axel hung a pot over their campfire, and began adding some of the plants from Zeke's gatherings in with the meat. All the while, Shelly said. "He's an S-class mage; in our guild, they're the only one's who can take Council jobs." She smiled at Amber, then quickly added, "Well... Other than my dad and Zumma." "Trust us." Axel added, holding a few sticks of meet over the fire. "If you ever see him fight, you'll definitely know what we're talking about." Just as he was about to add something else into the pot, Shelly jumped out and grabbed his hand. "Wait!" She yanked the object away; a yellow, fist sized mushroom with a grey ring pattern on the top. "Where did you get this?" Axel and Amber both glanced up at Zeke, who looked confused. "They where growing next to a tree, Geno said the ones with stripes are edible." "Stripes..." Shelly pointed at the top of the mushroom. "Not rings." "Oh..." He still looked confused, but glanced over to the tent. "But Geno's already eaten a bunch of them." Amber, sitting closest, peered inside. Sure enough, Geno lay there with three mushroom stems next to him, and a forth with a half-eaten cap was still in his hand. He wasn't moving, but just as she was about to go in and check on him, he let out probably the loudest snore she'd ever heard. "Um..." She began, growing concerned. "Are they poisonous?" "They're called Knock-Out-Shrooms." Shelly sighed, tossing away the one Axel was about to cook. "Jaina sometimes grows them to make some of her medicine. They're not dangerous, but they can make you fall asleep for a while if you eat them whole." "But... It's Geno." Axel chuckled. "He's already a heavy sleeper. And apparently, he chowed down." Shelly shook her head, but sill looked concerned. "No, he'll wake up in a few hours. Once it's worked its way out of his system." She picked up one of the stems, not sounding to sure of herself. "I think..." "Do we need a doctor?" Amber asked. "Naw, he'll be fine." Axel laughed again. "He use to live out on the woods before he joined the guild. Some tribe out on one of the islands. He'll probably be on his feet in no time." "Really?" Shelly asked, which Amber found surprising. She assumed they all knew everything there was to know about each other. "I thought dad was joking about the tribe thing." Axel shook his head, returning to work on the stew he'd been brewing. "Nope, all true. Apparently, he-." A loud whistle broke the silence, startling them all. Shelly, in particular, practically jumped out of her skin. Amber hopped to her feet, her hand on her belt ready to attack, but she could see nothing past what their campfire illuminated. "What was that?" Axel jumped up too when a second whistle echoed, this time from the cliff. He took a few steps closer to the edge, but was still a good ten feet away. Silence followed, and he slowly turned back to the girls. "You don't think its Rift trying to mess with us, do you?" Shelly huffed in annoyance. "I'm going to be so mad at him if he is." "It ain't your friend." A voice carried through the trees, followed by a bright flash from the same direction. Everyone was blinded by the light when something hit the ground next to their campfire with a defining smash. A huge black mass rushed past the girls, and a massive fist launched Axel clear over the cliff. A monster skidded to a halt barely a foot from the edge, and Zeke dove off the branch. "Axel!" Before he could reach the cliff-side, a tail lashed out and swatted him into the bushes. Amber barely had time to react as over a dozen men erupted from the trees around them. "Crimson Eyes!" She jumped back out of one of the men's grasp, and her two blade rings danced in circles around her to keep the others at bay. It worked for about a moment, the second the first man jumped back another jumped in, this time with a pair of knives. The weapons returned to her hands, and Amber used them to deflect the assault. She kicked the man in the stomach, but before she could engage someone else a pair of arms wrapped around her waist. "Round them up!" One of them yelled. Amber blindly swung her arm back, hitting what she assumed to be someone's head with her elbow, and shook free of their grasp. "Ahh!" Shelly collapsed to her knees, dragged to the ground by total of three people. "Let go of me!" Still fighting off the one who had grabbed her, Amber raised an arm to throw one of her blade rings to help, but someone kicked the back of her leg and she dropped like a stone. "Armeria!" She cried, feeling maybe three sets of hands land on her back. "Attack!" Armeria transformed again, this time into her shield form and flew at the men Shelly was fighting. One of them looked up just in time for it to crash into his face, knocking him back into a tree. The shield warped into a sword, whirling through the air to ward off anyone else. Amber suddenly felt a crushing weight on back, and she sank into the dirt. The monster had returned from the cliff, and its massive hand now pressed her into the ground. "Call it off!" It roared. Amber strained her neck to look up at it, but couldn't see much past it's arm. It pressed down on her again, forcing the air out of her lungs. "Are you fucking deaf!?" "Stop it-." Amber gasped, barely able to breath. "Armeria, that's enough!" The blade stopped swinging instantly, hanging in mid air in the center of the camp. Slowly it began sinking to the ground, and Armeria transformed into her imp form. She starred back at Amber, looking concerned, then up at the monster standing over her. She barely got a glimpse before one of the men grabbed her and stuffed her in a sack, dragging her off to where a three more of them where going through their bags. It was only then that the beast lifted its hand from Amber's back, allowing her to take a breath again. "There, see?" It quipped, flashing a giant maw full of fangs. "We can be reasonable." Starved for air, Amber didn't have the strength to fight back when four more men pilled onto her. Even if she did, her first real look at the monster caused her to freeze. It had to be at least fourteen feet tall, but was hunched over like a gorilla, so it's actual height was hard to determine. Its fur was blue, or black, it was night after all, and four large spikes grew from the back of it's shoulders. It had three tails as well, two like that of a bull, while the center one resembled a rat's more than anything else. The head was that of a wolf, but with mangy hair and a pair of long pointed horns that stuck out longer than the thing's snout. It surveyed the camp, swatting the small cottage Shelly had conjured aside like nothing. After a moment, it gave a disappointed huff. "Seriously? You guys are the ones who kicked Jasper's ass?" Amber took another look around, confused by the beast's words. Suddenly she noticed one of the guys rummaging through their bags had an emblem on his back, a frighteningly familiar one. The same red smile with blood dripping from the fangs that Jasper had on his chest was embroidered on the back of the man's jacket. There where more bandits they hadn't caught! "Hey boss!" One of the bandits emerged from under the tarp they'd made into a tent, addressing the beast. "Got another one in here. Dude's still sawing logs." The beast turned its head to the side, and a hint of confusion carried through it's voice. "He slept through all this shit?" "Naw." The bandit disappeared into the tent for a moment, emerging with the half-eaten Knock-Out-Shroom in his hand. "Dude's on a bad trip. Probably won't be awake for hours." The monster roared with laughter, and pretty much all of the bandits followed suet. "So, some beefed up junky, two little girls, and an asshole with a stupid cat got one of our best guys thrown in jail?" The creatures grin widened, and the girls both shuddered after catching another glimpse of it's massive teeth. "What the fuck made you think you'd be able to get away with that?" "I-it was just a job..." Shelly whimpered, fighting to see what was going on while she lay in the dirt. "The council sent us to stop the train robberies." The monster glanced in Shelly's direction, and her face filled with regret. "What have we here?" It took a step towards her and scooped her into it's fist faster than lightning. "Look at this one, boys. She's as small as a mouse." Everything between her shoulders and waist where trapped in the thing's massive hand, and it slowly began squeezing the air out of her. "I could pop her head off with just a flick of my thumb." The bandits all began to laugh as the beast pushed Shelly's head around like a toy. "Shelly!" Amber yelled, fighting to get up. It was pointless however; four of them where practically sitting on her, and one of them was in the process of tying her hands behind her back. "Stop it!" Shelly cried, pushing back as much as she could. Despite her efforts, the beast's thumb still had her powerless, pushing her neck to an angle that no doubt must have been painful. "You're hurting me!" "Hey... Oran." One of the bandits got off of Amber's back and approached the monster. "Maybe we should get going. Your brother is going to want them back in one piece after all." As if on cue, the wind died down instantly, as did much of the bandit's laughter. The one who stepped up looked apprehensive, and a shiver ran down Amber's spine. Suddenly, one of the beast's tails lashed out at him, swatting him aside like a bug. He hit a nearby tree with a sickening crunch before flopping back on the ground. Shelly fell from the beast's grasp, landing on her hands and knees. There was a bright flash, and the beast was replaced by a man by the time she looked up again. He wore a light green hoody and had dark brown hair, but the blood red eyes of the monster remained. And they where angry. The man, Oran, stomped toward his fallen comrade. Bandits scrambled to get out of his way, not wanting to incur the same wrath as the first man. Oran grabbed the scruff of the bandit's neck and threw him back against the tree. "I know the fucking rules!" He screamed. "What, you think I'm retarded or something?!" Everyone looked shocked. Not just the girls, even some of the bandits began leaning away. Sirens where going of in Amber's head, but with her hands tied and Armeria taken away, she didn't have much of a chance at fighting back. Especially against this Oran guy. She glanced across the clearing at Shelly, who had been hulled back into the circle and tied up the same as her. She too was fixated on the man's outburst, but her expression remained unreadable. After a good ten seconds of silence, Oran let the unconscious bandit go. He slowly slid down the tree, casting some serious doubt weather he was even alive or not. Before he'd even reached the bottom, Oran spun around with a bored look on his face. "Alright, fuck it. Let's head back." He slid his hands into the pockets of his hoody, and just disappeared into the trees. It was a moment before anyone dared move, but finally one of them spoke up. "Ok, load 'em up." Amber was roughly hulled up to her knees, and the same happened to Shelly. Two of the bandits lugged Geno out of the tent, while the others started collecting their belongings. Amber glanced to the cliff, wondering if Axel was ok, then at the place behind the bushes that she guessed Zeke was laying. "Hey!" Shelly yelling brought Amber's attention back to the group, just as one of them blindfolded her. "Stop it!" Amber tried to get up, but felt a painful yank on her wrists before her glasses where removed and her vision went black. She felt a hand on the back of her neck after she was blindfolded, and something cold and sharp being pressed against her cheek. "Don't even think about it." A gruff, older sounding voice growled into her ear. "You should feel lucky Oran didn't rip you and you're friends apart, so just thank god you're even still alive right now." Her shoulders relaxed as the instinct to fight left her, and the hand on her neck slid up to ruffle her hair. "Good girl." Amber was hulled to her feet, and two sets of hands led her blind through the woods. "Y'all should've picked you're fights more carefully." She heard the older one say. "This is what you get when you mess with Bloody Smile." Next Chapter - Prisoner Category:Chapter Category:Chapters Category:Storyline Category:Paths of the Soul